1981Released
4:31

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Burnin' for You. By Songfacts®.

Lead guitarist Don "Buck Dharma" Roeser wrote this with Richard Meltzer, a rock writer who often contributed lyrics to the band. Dharma initially planned to release this song on his solo album, Flat Out, but was later convinced to include it on Blue Öyster Cult's Fire Of Unknown Origin. Dharma sang lead, as he did on many of BÖC's songs. In a Songfacts interview with Dharma, he said: "'Burnin' for You' is a Richard Meltzer lyric that probably has the most sincere sentiment from my view. I wrote the music to that, because I thought I could do a good job... and I guess I did."

When Richard Meltzer wrote the lyrics, he titled the song "Burn Out The Night," a reference to an evening of rock and roll. Blue Öyster Cult had a "band house" where their band members and associates (including their manager, Sandy Pearlman) would bring in song ideas and lyrics. Joe Bouchard, who was their bass player at the time, told the metal magazine Chips & Beer that he and Buck Dharma came across Meltzer's lyrics at the same time, and each wrote their own song around it. Dharma's version, with the title changed to "Burnin' For You," was the one that got recorded.

Along with Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult was one of the first heavy metal bands. They issued their first album in 1972 and grew a modest following before scoring a hit with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (also written by Buck Dharma) from their 1976 album Agents of Fortune, which hit #12 and became embedded on rock playlists. Their next (and last) Top 40 hit came with "Burnin' For You," which was a #1 hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Burnin' for You.
AKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
134BPM

Album

The album Burnin' for You is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Burnin' for You.
Columbia
(P) 1981 Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

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